How can you make your brand more sustainable?

Top Tip: Perform a brand audit! An audit is the status quo - so doing a brand audit will tell you what you are doing now. In order to move forward you need to have a starting line and an audit will give you that! What will you, or should you, audit? ★ policies ★ practices ★ finances ★ production ★ assets and more!

When assessing your current situation, remember to stay in truth. Don't record where you think you are or where you would like to be, but where you really are today. Do it, even though it might be painfull and embarrassing, stay honest.

Realistic Goals in the short and long term for brand sustainability are key to creating actual impact and success. Don’t assume you can throw on a cape and fly on day one. Instead see sustainability as a journey for your brand, which may start with identifying and rectifying negatives for quite some time before you decide to save the rainforest single handedly. Brands pragmatically approaching sustainability are more likely to succeed and stick with goals in the long term - as well as avoiding increasing consumer cynicism towards greenwashing or empty purpose.

In my humble opinion, you should have three lenses through which you craft an authentic personal brand: 1. Skill - Whether you are a professor, engineer, creative or entrepreneur, the tools you have in your kit (communication, coding, design, analytics, etc) are your currency. 2. Industry - Having an industry flavour adds gravitas to your profile. In my humble opinion, you can be a jack of all trades but the important thing is to not lose your North Star of experience and networks. 3. Self - arguably the most important factor is what makes you interesting?! Do you swim, practice yoga, volunteer for a local clarity or enjoy painting? Sharing a piece of you increases trust and makes you connect on a deeper level.

Be honest and admit what you used to do wrong. Explain why did you change and where you would like this journey to take you and when. When you say aloud your sustainability goals, you're one step closer achieving them.

Don't be afraid doing things differently than others in your industry. Look above and behind industry barriers to find clever ways to handle sustainability issues.

If you really want your brand to be more sustainable, first thing to do is not to consider sustainability as a marketing tool or marketing goal. It is not about marketing, it is more about your role and contribution in a community (called world). Second thing to do is to deeply understanding what environmental and social impact really is. Third thing to do I defining what environmental and social impact is for your brand and what you can do for reducing your impact or improving your impact. Fourth thing to do is Talking less and doing more. Walking the Talk.